1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing technology, especially for setting execution condition for executing a predetermined processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known to be imaging processing technology for detecting feature points such as a person's eyes and mouth in an image, determining whether the person is smiling based on the arrangement relationship between the detected feature points, and performing imaging if it has been determined that the person is smiling (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-266984). There is also known to be imaging processing technology for making a determination regarding the person's smile level, and performing imaging if it has been determined that the smile level has reached a predetermined level set in advance by a user (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-311819).
In this way, in an imaging apparatus configured such that imaging processing is executed if a predetermined execution condition has been satisfied, the user needs to set the execution condition (imaging condition) for executing imaging processing in advance.
However, the imaging condition is not limited to merely “smiling” and the “level” thereof, but rather includes various setting items such as “eyes are open” and “line of sight direction matches normal direction of imaging area”. Even with the same item “smiling”, the “level” of smiling needs to be further changed depending on the gender of the subject, such as in the case of setting “smiling with mouth open” as an imaging condition for men, and setting “classy smile with mouth closed” as an imaging condition for women.
In this way, the imaging condition includes various setting items, and even with the same setting item, the optimum value changes depending on the situation, and therefore imaging condition setting is a very large burden on the user with an imaging apparatus such as that described above.
Also, when setting an optimum value for a predetermined setting item, it is not easy for the user to express an intended image (the image to be captured) using words, numbers, and the like. For example, if there were the three options “high”, “medium”, and “low” when setting the smile level, it would be very difficult to determine to which smile “level” the item “classy smile with mouth closed” would correspond. For this reason, the captured image may as a result differ from the image the user intended to capture.
For such reasons, there is desire for an imaging apparatus that facilitates the setting of an imaging condition and furthermore enables the execution of imaging processing conforming to an image intended by the user. Also, if execution condition setting is facilitated, and processing conforming to an image intended by the user is executed, it is conceivable for the present invention to be applicable to not only imaging processing, but also, for example, a search condition for searching for an image, or a compositing condition for compositing images. In other words, the present invention can be applied to the setting of an execution condition for various types of processing.